Thanks, sweetie. Right now my family dreams of moving to Utah. Me so I can have a larger ward with more diversity, my Mom because the Episcopal church there is very active, and my dd because "there is an In N Out burger in Salt Lake City". We all agree we miss Thai food : D I'm like a pitbull with my testimony - my branch won't take it from me.

Mmm, there are many layers to this. I am currently getting good mental health care. I have a psychiatrist who listens to me and has me on medications that work with minimal side effects. My talk-therapist has experience with non-military related PTSD, which is like finding a needle in a haystack. Last week I told her that I am amazed at her talent to figure me out because PTSD is so individualistic. The next blessing I have is that my medications are covered by mu insurance. My one complaint is that I can only get a one month supply and driving to the pharmacy once a month can be a pain and can lead to a day or two of missed medications. My dd would be better served with people who have more experience and knowledge. The knowledge base here for ADS is pretty limited and there is a a formulaic response to it. Her OT has no idea what to do with a teen girl with ASD. It's... stressful.

Here is my story of wearing pants today. Sisters, my heart is so heavy today. I want to just curl up in a ball and cry. Today I wore a nice dressy green shirt and black slacks to church, along with my best black flat shoes. It was my best church outfit, reflecting my reverence for Heavenly Father and my love of receiving the sacrament. Our weather here in southwestern Minnesota was in tune with the time of year - cold and snowy. I left my house when it was sixteen degrees out and was so thankful to have warm legs! If my car slid off the road I had boots in the car and would be able to dig myself out. During my hour long drive to church I listened to Christmas music and sang along to warm up my pipes for singing at church. Arriving just in time for services I made my way into the chapel. Our branch is small. It was quickly apparent that I was the only female in church in pants, and there were nor purple shirts or ties in sight. I hadn't expected anything else. The sacrament was blessed and passed with our normal level of reverence. Singing was a bit confused as one song was posted but we sang another. With this great foundation everything went downhill. I had thought there would be some sort of observation of the horrific events in Connecticut. They were never mentioned, not even in prayer. Everything from the opening prayer to the ending prayer was male-led. Not a single sister was called on to talk. The talks were all about the importance of serving a mission and the recent age change. The first talk was by a recently returned missionary and fairly standard fair. Not a single mention of mothers, sisters, his fiancee, or sister missionaries was made. The second talk was given by our Elders Quorum President. He, too, spoke of his mission. This was when I wanted to cry because this brother talked about how, when he returned, his ward bishop kept introducing him to sister returned missionaries. He said, and I quote, "I didn't want to date or marry any of these sister missionaries because they were all pass their prime." No one laughed, no shifting of uncomfortable feet. Just silent agreement. In my heart I thanked Heavenly Father that my twelve year old daughter was not with us. The last talk was by our branch president He got up and said that he was happy to have married a returned missionary sister. Hope fluttered in my heart. Our president went on to talk about his mission and how he reminded himself as he tracted in the rain that each time he did so his future wife would be prettier and prettier. Not smarter. Not more faithful. Not kinder. Heck, not even wealthier. Prettier. I wondered if this is all that matters for LDS women - that we were pretty. My tears stayed firmly at bay. After our chapel time we had Sunday School, normally a class I looked forward to. Our teacher, the Elders Quorum President, normally makes the lessons interesting. Today we covered Moroni 6. The whole chapter was covered under the idea of how the LDS church is following Book of Mormon doctrine in how the church operates. We were told that this chapter gets taught often in Priesthood meetings because of the relevance to the brothers and their duties. My heart sank further and further as each subject covered was something that men were only allowed to do. Nothing that was talked about was something that sisters are allowed to do in the LDS church. At this point I was wondering if my branch, the stake, or even the whole church had been told to up the talk of men in reaction to women wearing pants to church. Relief Society never met. Instead we had a meeting about the new way the teens are going to be taught come January. My brain was on overload trying to figure out what was going on but it did eventually kick in to wonder why all the branch needed to hear about this when there are few teens that attend (maybe two girls and a male or two). I drove away with a heavy heart switching between hurt and anger. The whole experience underlined why I stay at home and study the scriptures, watch church services on TV, and rarely go to chapel or branch events. My mind reflected on how much I feel like a leaper in my branch. I am the only single mother. In my eight years of membership I have never had a Home or Visiting teacher assigned to me. Members work on evangelizing my daughter, but I get largely ignored. Today five people spoke to me, four in passing. Despite all of this, I believe the church to be true. I believe that our Heavenly Father called on Joseph Smith as a prophet. But somewhere along the way many of our brothers and sisters have lost their way and are ignorant of that fact.

It's not normal but it is very loving.

It's a aunt that said he was homeschooled. Not looking forward to the next few weeks if it's true.

VEGAS BABY! We got married at the Graceland Wedding Chapel, and Elvis gave me away. No family, two friends, and a whole lot of fun. Afterwards I got very drunk, stuffed myself at a buffet, and my now ex made back all the money we spent by counting cards at The Sands.

If the pants idea got more coverage here I suspect our chapel would be full on Sunday. Many, many sister have been driven away not just by the blatant patriarchal bias in our branch/stake but by the subtle little things, too. It's interesting to note that the Facebook page promoting the Pants on Sunday day was removed. Facebook is looking into the issue since neither Facebook nor the admins of the page took it down. Was it hacking? We'll know soon. As for now word is being spread via word of mouth and social media. That wearing pants to church on any Sunday is an issue illustrates the need for this to happen.

Reviews on Amazon profoundly impact my purchases, and not just of books. I always read all the one star reviews, too. If what people complain about are things I can live with - or even like - then I'm a go.

I can't watch 3D movies because of my Epilepsy. There is a trend towards them because all of the new DVD players coming out are now supporting the format. I may be forced out of watching new films due to a medical condition soon.

Oh, a little thing called physical education. Many bathrooms in high schools don't have doors anymore in an attempt to prevent sex and or drug use.

Parents, "cool" family, friends of the family and the like. I have a friend with a daughter who was visiting another friend over the weekend. The other friend took the daughter to VS to buy her bras. People on these boards have talked about their daughters asking for stuff from the Pink line because other girls are wearing it at school. And that's where rape culture comes in. So many women are raped because they are allegedly dressed provocatively. The whole "she was asking for it" defense, which worked for a long time, and still is used in court. Read the article, you'll see how it all ties in. Ah, but the rape education people aren't selling anything for money. They are raising awareness.

Ah, they go up to a 40DDD now. Still too small for my 42H. Mom and I joke that our b00ks are the result of selective breeding on the part of male b00k lovers.

You can buy urine on eBay, inject it into your bladder with a needle, and test clean. Some states have done trial runs of the testing to get benefits thing. It cost more to run than it saved in welfare fraud.

http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/baltimore-feminists-prank-victorias-secret-and-spark-an-internet-revolution/ This article really made me step back and think hard about the issues they brought up. Granted, I stopped shopping at VS when I was a D cup because they don't make bras past a C, but the sayings on the underwear are OUTRAGEOUS. Pre-teens could wear clothing like what they sell. Then the underhanded oppression of what amounts to a PSA is horrible. What are your thoughts?

Cymbalta - cut the pain in half and wiped away all mental fog. Not perfect, but a heck of a lot better than anything else I've tried.

Can we shoot this thread already? It's nasty, doing nothing for people for or against the proposed issues, and is drowning out other threads that are WAY more positive.

One of my friends suggested "Under the Latin Moon" by Candi and that reminded me of a song by DeBarge title "Rhythm of the Night". Neither are a match for the song lyrics, but they do fit the dance-able issue. There is a song by the same name by Corona, which is viewed as a classic dance song.

If you catch him doing it another time I would go for the town witch title and threaten to turn him into something unnatural.

Hey, my baptismal water was toasty! I encounter a lot of sexism in the LDS church. Being a single mother makes me a leaper, too. For example - some how someone listed my sort-of-ex-husband as the head of household. Uh, he's not a member of the church, abused me, cheated on me, and abandoned my child and I. It took EIGHT MONTHS of weekly badgering to have our branch president remove my non-member ex from our listing. And the next person who says they pity me for not having a priesthood holder is gonna get a talking to.

Oh, I've been puled aside and told to wear dresses by the RS president. The women at my first ward stared at me when I came in slacks.

Oooo, looks like I'm going to church on Sunday IN PANTS. Man, I'ma get some stink eye and a good talking-to ta boot.

My daughter WAS super proud of me. I got a pat on the back and everything : D

Come on people, if we can teach our kids Latin we can figure out this one! I'm going to ask on my Facebook page because I have some SERIOUS music friends there.

Oh sweetie! I'm so sorry for making you cry! *HUGS*

I agree, an Outward Bound type experience is not going to help them.